Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is an agreement between a company and its many publics about how the company will conduct itself when doing business.

It’s an important part of how we operate at Huawei. Our commitments are captured in Huawei’s tenth annual Corporate Social Responsibility report. It looks at our overall CSR strategy and details global initiatives across four areas:

Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. According to the ITU (International Telecommunications Union), more than 87% of the world's population is now within the range of a mobile signal. Among the world's poorest 20% of households, nearly 7 out of 10 have a mobile phone. In fact, more households in developing countries own a mobile phone than have access to electricity or clean water.

But half a billion people remain unconnected to any form of telecommunications services. They are disproportionately located in developing countries.

Huawei understands this challenge. Our technologies can enable the widest possible coverage through higher power and more targeted transmission. We also integrate multiple technologies such as cellular, Wi-Fi, and microwave to make their deployment both faster and cheaper. Affordability is critical if we are to overcome the digital divide. To minimize network costs, Huawei provides end-to-end services and works closely with its customers to reduce their expenses, and consequently the costs for the end consumer.

Supporting customers’ network stability is at the core of Huawei's commitment to social responsibility. We’re among the first responders after earthquakes and other natural disasters. We have developed efficient emergency response mechanisms that allow us to quickly restore customer networks and ensure smooth communications for users at critical moments, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, upheavals, wars, and cyber attacks. Thanks to these measures, we can provide the stable communications services that are necessary to safeguard life and property. Providing continuity in communications is critical to support rescue works.

Promoting environmental protection is the next core strategy for Huawei. To begin, the entire information communication technology (ICT) industry is delivering greater efficiencies to communities and businesses worldwide. Connectivity reduces the need for travel. New technology provides more capability with usually lower power consumption. Designing goods for the circular economy means more materials are reused and recycled.

As a leading global ICT solutions provider, Huawei follows a strategy of “Green Pipe, Green Operations, Green Partner, Green World.” We explore innovative ways to maximize products’ energy utilization efficiency and operating efficiency, and at the same time minimize our carbon footprint and negative environmental impacts. In 2017 on average we increased the energy efficiency of our products by 23 percent.

We also understand our commitment to environmental protection as we expand our global consumer business. Huawei runs a Global Green Recycling Program, in which we strive to fulfil our extended producer responsibility. In 2017 we had 705 recycling stations in 36 countries and regions around the world for handling of scrapped mobile phones, tablets, and other electronic products.

Have you seen the video about our approach to the environment? It’s called “More+” and walks through efforts to increase preservation while reducing emissions.

Building a healthy ecosystem is the fourth major strategy for Huawei’s CSR efforts. Our company must prioritize employees' health and personal development, contribute to communities, drive supply chain players to be more socially responsible, and promote sustainability within the entire industrial chain.

Engaged, healthy employees are one of the keys to our success. Hailing from many different countries, races, and ethnicities, our 180,000 employees form a diverse family. They come from 163 countries and regions around the world. In China alone, our employees are from 38 ethnic groups. We have developed and launched many diversity initiatives in areas such as nationality, gender, age, race, and religion.

 “We need to evolve from being a leader to being the leader. If we are just a leader, we may destroy rules. However, if we are the leader, we will build a business ecosystem, and have to take the interests of other high-performing vendors into consideration,” said Mr Ren Zhengfai at the Huawei 2018 Annual Meeting. Developing a balanced CSR program globally is one way Huawei helps build a business ecosystem.